French Open: Roger Federer becomes oldest man to reach 4th round at Roland GarrosRoger Federer also became the first player to contest 400 Grand Slam matches, marking the occasion in style with a straight-sets victory over Casper Ruud to reach the last 16 at Roland Garros.advertisement Next Reuters ParisMay 31, 2019UPDATED: May 31, 2019 22:06 IST Roger Federer celebrates winning his third round match of the French Open tennis tournament against Casper Ruud. (AP Photo)HIGHLIGHTSFederer had defeated Sonego and Oscar in the first two roundsFederer had made an exit in the first round itself in 1999 French Open as he lost to Pat RafterFederer is vying for his second French Open title 10 yearsRoger Federer eased past Norway’s Casper Ruud 6-3 6-1 7-6(10-8) on Friday to become the oldest male player to reach the fourth round at the French Open.Playing in his 400th Grand Slam match, the 37-year-old showed little mercy to his 20-year-old Norwegian opponent, whose father Christian reached the third round when Federer first played on the ‘terre battue’ of Roland Garros as a wild card entrant in 1999.Federer needed little more than an hour to pick up the first two sets, but a rare lapse in the Federer concentration allowed Ruud, ranked 63 in the world, to pick up an early break in the third set.The Swiss reeled the youngster back in, forcing the game to a tie-break where he squandered three match points before winning 10-8.As he signed autographs at the end, a female fan said: “Roger, I’ve never seen you sweat before, this is crazy.” Federer quipped back: “I know, I don’t know what’s going on, I must be getting old!”Federer was making his first appearance at Roland Garros since he reached the quarter-finals in 2015. He withdrew from the event in 2016 and missed the entire clay court season in 2017 and 2018 to focus on grass.Sounding relaxed in a post-match interview, Federer, one of tennis’ most elegant playmakers, praised his opponent’s tenacity – and his grunt-free ball-hitting.”He doesn’t make any noise. I love that,” he said.Federer is vying for his second French Open title 10 years after his first in 2009 and to set a record for the longest gap between winning a second title at a Grand Slam in the Open era. He will meet either French wild card Nicolas Mahut or Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer in the fourth round.advertisementAlso Read | French Open: Petra Martic knocks out 2nd seed Karolina PliskovaAlso Watch:For sports news, updates, live scores and cricket fixtures, log on to indiatoday.in/sports. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for Sports news, scores and updates.Get real-time alerts and all the news on your phone with the all-new India Today app. Download from Post your comment Do You Like This Story? Awesome! Now share the story Too bad. Tell us what you didn’t like in the comments Posted bySaurabh Kumar Tags :Follow French OpenFollow Roland GarrosFollow Roger Federerread more